Drew Barrymore to 'Pause' Show Premiere Until Strike Over, Apologizes Again

In a statement released Sunday, Drew Barrymore apologized for plans to kick off her eponymous talk show amid the ongoing Hollywood strikes and announces she will instead wait until it is over.

After enduring relentless negative reactions, including picketing, following her announcement that her show is returning to the air amid the ongoing Hollywood strikes, Drew Barrymore has changed her mind.

The former child star raised eyebrows over the weekend when she deleted the announcement that her show was returning, on Sunday she made it all clear by officially announcing that her return wasn’t happening after all.

Drew Barrymore Deletes Apology Video & Post Announcing Talk Show's Return Amid Strikes After Backlash

“I have listed to everyone,” Barrymore wrote to her Instagram page of the reaction, “and I am making the decision to pause the show’s premiere until the strike is over.”

Barrymore came under fire because her production uses WGA members on her writing staff. Other shows like The Talk, The Jennifer Hudson Show, and Sherri had also announced their plans to return without writers, while The View never stopped running new episodes. The WGA has picketed, or announced intentions to picket, all of these shows.

“I have no words to express my deepest apologies to anyone I have hurt and, of course, to our incredible team who works on the show and has made it what it is today,” Barrymore’s statement continued.

“We really tried to find our way forward,” her message concluded. “And I truly hope for a resolution for the entire industry very soon.”

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Debra Messing Asks Drew Barrymore to Halt Production on Daytime Show Following Apology

Among those offering their take on Barrymore’s initial decision to bring her show back even as writers and actors continue to strike across her industry was Rosie O’Donnell, who definitely knows a thing or two about both daytime television, and negative reactions.

O’Donnell posted a screenshot to her Instagram quoting an essay from Elizabeth Grey, per The Huffington Post, who offered three very simple “declarative sentences” she felt Barrymore should put out, as well as not taping her show or asking audiences to cross picket lines to attend.

“They should follow along these lines,” Grey wrote in her essay. “I made an error. I apologize to the WGA for disrespecting the work of professional writers. I apologize to all union members who are withstanding real hardship as I live a life of luxury.”

Will & Grace star Debra Messing also weighed in before Barrymore reversed course, offering the same advice to just not do it. “You can choose now to halt production. You can choose to pay your employees like other talk show hosts who have stood in solidarity with the writers,” Messing posted to X (formerly Twitter).

Drew Barrymore Canceled As National Book Awards Host Following Controversy

“There are thousands of union members jobs and livelihoods that are at stake (exponential more than those who work on your show) and the future of our beloved industry,” her message continued. “I hope you will reconsider.”

For her decision to return, Barrymore was dropped as host of the 2023 National Book Awards. At the start of the strike in May, Barrymore herself had stepped down as host of the MTV Movie & TV Awards in solidarity with striking writers.

Barrymore first announced her decision to bring the show back to air last week, where she maintained the show is in “compliance with not discussing or promoting film and television that is struck of any kind.”

Launching during the pandemic, Barrymore said in both her apology video and her written statement, that the show was “built for sensitive times” like the one Hollywood is currently in.

“I want to be there to provide what writers do so well, which is a way to bring us together or help us make sense of the human experience,” she wrote at the time. “We have navigated difficult times since we first came on air. And so I take a step forward to start season 4 once again with an astute humility.”

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